UK’s porn age checks to arrive in July, raising fears over security and privacy

The United Kingdom’s communications regulator Ofcom announced on Thursday that online pornography sites must by July verify that all of their users are adults or potentially face being blocked by the country’s internet service providers.

Civil liberties groups have expressed concerns that the “roll-out of age-verification is likely to create new cybersecurity risks. This could take the form of more scam porn sites that will trick users into handing over personal data to ‘verify their age’,” as James Baker of the Open Rights Group warned.

Ofcom has set out a range of methods that it considers highly effective for checking users’ ages, including photo ID matching and checks on credit cards — which you must be 18 to own in Britain. Other age-checking methods could be acceptable, said Ofcom, but they “must be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair in order to be considered highly effective.”

In particular, the regulator has stated that the self-declaration of age and online payments using a debit card — which do not require a person to be 18 — would not be considered effective, and could leave those sites open to enforcement action.

“Some of the verification methods that Ofcom has defined as highly effective could put people at risk of new cybercrimes,” warned Open Rights Group’s Baker, citing research published with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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The age verification measures are part of Britain’s controversial Online Safety Act, which passed in 2023 and aims to force technology companies to address a range of online harms. Businesses that fail to comply could face a range of enforcement actions, from being fined up to £18 million ($22.3 million) or 10% of their global turnover, having their websites blocked by British internet service providers, or even facing criminal prosecution.

“For too long, many online services which allow porn and other harmful material have ignored the fact that children are accessing their services,” said Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive.

“Either they don’t ask or, when they do, the checks are minimal and easy to avoid. That means companies have effectively been treating all users as if they’re adults, leaving children potentially exposed to porn and other types of harmful content.

“As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services. Services which host their own pornography must start to introduce age checks immediately, while other user-to-user services – including social media - which allow pornography and certain other types of content harmful to children will have to follow suit by July at the latest,” added Dawes.

Baker of the Open Rights Group said: “There needs to be a specific and enforceable guarantee that [age verification] systems will be private, safe and secure. The new plans miss this vital step, so place people at risk of data leaks, and having their sexual interests exposed to blackmailers and scammers.”